The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for controlling magnetic discs which process a picture image.
As shown in FIG. 1, a first original document A has frames A.sub.1 -A.sub.6 therein and a second original document B has information contents B.sub.1 and B.sub.2. In the case where the content B.sub.1 is to be moved into each of the frames A.sub.1, A.sub.3 and A.sub.5 and the content B.sub.2 is to be moved into each of the frames A.sub.2, A.sub.4 and A.sub.6, to obtain a merged document C (that is, when posting or moving is effected by a computer), the operation has been completed in a first manner in the prior art as described hereunder. It is assumed that a magnetic disc (hereinafter abbreviated as DK) is used as a storage means:
(1) the original document A is read by a picture image reading device and the read-out information is stored in an area A of a DK. The information stored in area A is referred to as "File A";
(2) the original document B is read by the picture image reading device and the read-out information is stored in an area B of the DK. The information stored in area B is referred to as "File B";
(3) picture information to be moved from File A is written into a main memory (hereinafter abbreviated as MM) from the DK. The picture information thus written into the MM is referred to as "Data A";
(4) picture information to be moved from File B is written into the MM from the DK. The picture information thus written into the MM is referred to as "Data B";
(5) data A and data B are ORed. The result of the ORing operation is referred to as "Data C";
(6) the Data C is read-out of the MM and stored in the DK. The stored data is referred to as "File C"; and
(7) the File C is read-out to a picture image output device so that the original document C having a picture image if formed as shown in FIG. 1.
In the case where, for example, each of the original documents A, B and C of FIG. 1 is of "A4" size, and the picture image is read-out/written in with a resolution of about 10 lines/mm, the bulk of information will be as large as several megabites. This information corresponds to approximately 120 tracks of a DK.
When the above-mentioned steps (3) and (6) are executed, a track of disc DK in which File A has been stored (as well as the specific portion thereof which is to be moved) is first accessed to read picture information a.sub.1 out of the File A into the MM. The track in which File B has been stored (as well as the specific portion thereof which is to be moved) is accessed to read picture information b.sub.1 out of the File B into the MM. The information a.sub.1 and b.sub.1 are then ORed in the MM. The result of the OR operation is then read out of the MM and stored in the DK. Subsequently, another track in which File A is stored (along with the portion thereof to be transferred) is accessed to read out picture information a.sub.2 of the File A into the MM, and another track in which File B is stored (along with the portion thereof to be transferred) is accessed to read out picture information b.sub.2 of the File B into the MM. The information a.sub.2 and b.sub.2 are ORed in the MM and the result of OR operation is stored in the DK from the MM. Thus, in this first prior art processing method, the above-mentioned operations are repeatedly and cyclically effected approximately 120 times (in the above-mentioned example) before the transfer of an A4 size sheet of picture image of an original document can be completed.
As is apparent in the above-described conventional picture image transferring method, since the highest percentage of processing time is expended in accessing the DK, the processing time is unnecessarily long.
In the case where the picture image transferring processing is effected by using a masking step such as shown in FIG. 2, a mask B is placed over an original document A so as to delete picture image information in a portion of an original document A. A portion of picture image information on an original document C is moved to the portion of document A from which picture image information has been deleted to obtain an original document D. This second prior art processing method is effected by the following conventional steps:
(1') the original document is read and the read-out information is stored at an area A of the DK. The stored information is referred to as "File A";
(2') the original document is read and the read-out information is stored at area B of the DK. The stored information is referred to as "File B";
(3') the mask B is read and the read-out information is stored at area C of the DK. The stored information is referred to as "File C";
(4') the information from File A is read from the DK into the MM;
(5') the picture information in a portion of the File C to be moved is read from the DK into the MM;
(6') the information of the File B is read from the DK into the MM;
(7') the respective images from File C, File B and File A are combined in the MM; and
(8') the information obtained by transferring a part of the original document C to a portion of the original document A is stored again in the DK.
The above-mentioned steps are repeated until the transfer of all the information to be moved has been completed. Thus, similarly to the previous processing method, the transfer process of moving a portion of the image on the original document C to a masked portion of the original document A unduly increases the processing time.
In both of the prior art image processing methods described above, the transfer processing time is unduly lengthy which decreases both the efficiency and utility of the image processing devices which effect these processing methods.